Ford is preparing a £500 million capital injection for the unit's struggling Jaguar division, according to the London Sunday Times, citing a senior Jaguar source.

Earlier this month, Ford said it expected Jaguar, which has struggled to keep pace with larger rivals in the premium car sector, to report flat sales and a loss this year.

Jaguar has said it plans to end assembly operations at a plant in Britain and cut 1,150 workers, or 15 per cent, of the money-losing division's workforce.

Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG), which includes Volvo, Aston Martin, Land Rover as well as Jaguar, reported a 2004 pre-tax loss of £395 million, a decline from a pre-tax profit of $171 million in 2003.

The decline primarily reflected unfavourable currency exchange and lower volumes at Jaguar.

Ford has projected that PAG will have a 2005 pre-tax profit of $300 million to $600 million.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.